5 step coloring & enhancing photo from boring to attractive

My first PS tutorial, Photoshop Tutorial : coloring/ enhancing was one I found lacking as it was my first so I decided to do a new one. There can be endless ways to enhance an image and it’s always fun to experiment to get different effects or turn a very dull and boring image into one that looks good.

Today, I dug out a photo from my last Buntal Sunrise trip and am gonna teach you how to transform a photo like this:

01 PS tutorial: From boring to attractive

into this:
13 final PS tutorial: From boring to attractive

02 CTRL + M PS tutorial: From boring to attractive

1. Press “CTRL + M” or Click “Image >> Adjustments >> Curves…” and follow the settings above.

03 PS tutorial: From boring to attractive
2. Now, click “Image >> Adjustments >> Shadows/ Highlights…” and I adjusted the settings above.

04 PS tutorial: From boring to attractive
3. Now duplicate the layer and click “Image >> Adjustments >> Black & White…”. Here, I slide the red towards the left so I can emphasize the red of the original image. Now set this layer as “soft light”. I do this because I think that it gives the image a 3D feel to it.

4. Now go back to the original layer and below are the settings for your selective color (“Image >> Adjustments >> Selective Color…”)
05 red PS tutorial: From boring to attractive
Settings for “Reds”

06 cyan PS tutorial: From boring to attractive
Settings for “Cyans”

07 whites PS tutorial: From boring to attractive
Settings for “Whites”

08 neutral PS tutorial: From boring to attractive
Settings for “Neutrals”

09 blacks PS tutorial: From boring to attractive
Settings for “Blacks”

10 whites again PS tutorial: From boring to attractive
After pressing “OK”. I always like to go back to “Selective color” to do a little touching up. Here, I gave the White a little bit of yellow as you can see the settings above.

5. Merge your layers together. (“Shift + Ctrl + E”) Now for layer styles. (This is optional but you can go ahead if you like.)
11 stroke inner PS tutorial: From boring to attractive
Go to “Layer >> Layer style >> Stroke…” and follow the settings above to give black borders.

12 inner shadow PS tutorial: From boring to attractive
To give a vignetting effect, go to “Layer >> Layer style >> Inner shadow…” and follow the above settings.

And we’re done! The final image would look like the below:

13 final PS tutorial: From boring to attractive

I hope you like this new tutorial and that it works well for those who are willing to try it out! Thanks and I hope to come out with more tutorials soon.

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